Going to Extremes (Plume) [Mass Market Paperback]

Joe McGinniss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Series: Plume

When construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline created an oil boom in the late 1970s, journalist Joe McGinniss headed north to find out what if anything was left of the 'last frontier.' He discovered, as one reader put it, 'mind-bending contradictions'--greed, waste, addictions, and racism, all of which contrasted with the vast untamed natural beauty and the honest, open, and independent spirit of the people. McGinniss focused mostly on the underbelly of Alaska s boom culture. He tells a sometimes shocking, often moving story of turmoil through the perspective of a lively assortment of bush pilots, boomers, park rangers, bartenders, teachers, journalists, waitresses, politicians, Alaskan Native, and an advancing legion of outsiders looking to get rich quick. Going to Extremes is an entertaining yet historically important book that stands as a journalistic time capsule from a time three decades ago when overwhelming changes swept over Alaska.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Joe McGinnis did not set out to judge or explain, but only to find out what Alaska is. He succeeded. --New York Times

First personal reporting at its finest. --Christian Science Monitor

Powerful...poignant...hilarious --Newsweek --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Joe McGinniss started his career in journalism at the Worcester Telegram, Philadelphia Inquirer, and LA Herald-Examiner before becoming an overnight success with his first book, 'The Selling of the President,' which landed him on the NY Times bestseller list at age 26. He went on to write 10 more books, several of them bestsellers, and he currently is working on a book tentatively titled, 'Sarah Palin's Year of Living Dangerously,' to be published in 2011 by Broadway/Random House. He has five children and, at last count, seven grandchildren. McGinniss lives in Massachusetts with his wife, writer and editor Nancy Doherty. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452263018
• ISBN-13: 978-0452263017
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INTELLIGENT AND ADDICTING, May 11, 2000

By 

Patrick R. Renau (Maple Falls, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Going to Extremes (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

This magnificiently written "fly-on-the-wall" narrative about The Last Frontier is pretty dead-on and holds up after 20 odd years later. I have travelled many portions of the state on leisure expeditions and felt his emotions throughout each page. The most valuable asset of this book is its ability to both entertain the sourdough among us and in addition vividly depict the Alaskan aura for those who have never been. There are no slow moments: witty, poignant, and eloquent structure make this the most enjoyable book I have ever read - in actual fact, it is the Only book I have ever read whereas upon finishing the last page, I immediately began reading again! Favorite anecdote: In describing the residents of Alaska as thinking about Alaska all the time as if it was an entity onto itself in their lives, he states that this is a unique state of mind in that you would not, say, find people walking around Toledo contemplating the "Essence of Ohio".

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alaska: the city guy's view, June 11, 2004

By 

bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Going to Extremes (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

The "top note" of Joe McGinniss' story "Going to Extremes" is about what happens when a lot of folks from the lower 48 and a lot of money are thrown into Alaska at the same time--the late 1970s, when the pipeline was being built. McGinniss casts an urban reporter's jaundiced eye, for example, toward the drinking and drugs that seem like an inevitable consequence of people in the cold wilderness with nothing to do and some money.

Sometimes he intends to be virtually comic, as when a newbie pipefitter offloads his pickup truck from the ferry in a Panhandle town unconnected to the rest of the world by road, or when a drug-addled prostitute runs in to a travel agency in Valdez, Alaska, pointing a gun at the travel agent demanding an immediate trip out of town (to get away from creditors). The agent settles her down and puts her in his truck--as though this sort of thing happened everyday-- while he finishes out his conversation with McGinniss inside.

A long essay documenting McGinniss' trip to the far northern Brooks Range is dominated by his fear of bears (that's logical, I guess) and his city-slicker mountaineering inabilities, although it eventually rises to suggest the majesty of the land he was touring.

In contrast to John McPhee's "Coming into the Country," written in the same era, McGinniss seems determined to remain a sardonic outsider, an observer of people and their weaknesses primarily, rather than an observer of nature. It's an insightful approach although I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of real Alaskans objected to it, and certainly I am hoping to avoid the gun-toting ladies of the evening on my upcoming trip to tour the state.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Joe!, January 28, 2000

By 

Rebecca Bogosian "Rebecca" (US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Going to Extremes (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't know anything about Alaska until I read this book. I have no idea whether it is accurate or not the way he described that remote area. But my heart was following him everywhere he went and every feeling he got. I chewed on every word, and was totally lost in the last episode when they found this beautiful meadow. I was speechless after I closed the book. I sat at the beach, and had it to myself again and again, that beautiful meadow, the peace, the harmony...

Thank you, Joe!